II
Tuppence put down her empty coffee cup and settled back in her chair.
‘Anything hopeful?’ said Tommy.
‘No, not really,’ said Tuppence, ‘but it might be. Anyway, the old peopletalked about it and knew about it. Most of them had heard it from theirelderly relations or something. Stories of where they had put things orfound things. There was some story about a will that was hidden in aChinese vase. Something about Oxford¹ and Cambridge, though I don’t seehow anyone would know about things being hidden in Oxford or Cam-bridge. It seems very unlikely.’
‘Perhaps someone had a nephew undergraduate,’ said Tommy, ‘whotook something back with him to Oxford or Cambridge.’
‘Possible, I suppose, but not likely.’
‘Did anyone actually talk about Mary Jordan?’
‘Only in the way of hearsay–not of actually knowing definitely about herbeing a German spy, only from their grandmothers or great-aunts or sis-ters or mothers’ cousins or Uncle John’s naval² friend who knew all aboutit.’
‘Did they talk about how Mary died?’
‘They connected her death with the foxglove and spinach³ episode.
Everyone recovered, they said, except her.’
‘Interesting,’ said Tommy. ‘Same story different setting.’
‘Too many ideas perhaps,’ said Tuppence. ‘Someone called Bessie said,“Well. It was only my grandmother who talked about that and of course ithad all been years before her time and I expect she got some of the detailswrong. She usually did, I believe.” You know, Tommy, with everyone talk-ing at once it’s all muddled⁴ up. There was all the talk about spies andpoison on picnics and everything. I couldn’t get any exact dates because ofcourse nobody ever knows the exact date of anything your grandmothertells you. If she says, “I was only sixteen at the time and I was terriblythrilled,” you probably don’t know now how old your grandmother reallywas. She’d probably say she was ninety now because people like to saythey’re older than their age when they get to eighty, or if, of course, she’sonly about seventy, she says she’s only fifty-two.’
‘Mary Jordan,’ said Tommy thoughtfully, as he quoted the words, ‘didnot die naturally. He had his suspicions. Wonder if he ever talked to a po-liceman about them.’

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